POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - Marist returns home to McCann Arena after a three-game road trip to face Siena on Monday night in a 7 p.m. contest. Monday is Faculty and Staff Appreciation night at McCann. Fans can watch and listen to the game on the Red Fox Network as well as on the radio on WKIP 1450 AM - Poughkeepsie. Geoff Brault will be providing play-by-play alongside color analyst Kristy Nix. The pregame show will begin at 6:45.

QUICK HITTERS

Marist is 10-0 this season and 25-1 in the past two seasons when scoring at least 60 points.

The Red Foxes have won 32 consecutive home games against MAAC opponents dating back to the 2008-09 season. Overall, Marist is 83-10 in conference home games under Brian Giorgis, with five of those losses coming in his first season in 2002-03.

The Red Foxes are looking to start 8-0 in the MAAC for the seventh consecutive season. Overall, Marist has won 17 straight conference games, including the postseason, dating back to last Feb. 4 at Manhattan.

Marist is currently 40th in the NCAA RPI rankings. The next highest team from the MAAC is Fairfield at 104th.

Sydney Coffey was named the MAAC Rookie of the Week for the second time this season on Jan. 21 following her performances at Canisius and Niagara.

Kristina Danella is just 20 points away from reach 1,000 for her career. The first 616 of her points came in her freshman and sophomore seasons when she was at UMass.

Junior Leanne Ockenden has already proven to be one of the best sharpshooters in Marist history. She is already in the top-10 at Marist for three-pointers made, currently tied for seventh all-time with Melissa Hauser at 119. She sits 11 behind Nancy Holbrook (130) for sixth. Jean-Marie Lesko holds the top spot on the chart with 249 made three-pointers.

SCOUTING THE SAINTS

Siena is 7-11 overall and 3-4 in the MAAC under first-year head coach Ali Jaques. The Saints had won three games in a row before falling at second-place Fairfield 50-43 on Friday.

The Saints are led offensively by Lily Grenci, a preseason All-MAAC First Team member, who is second in the MAAC with 15.2 PPG and third with 9.1 RPG. Clara Sole Anglada is second with 9.3 PPG and 5.4 RPG. Ida Krogh runs the point for Siena, leading the team with 52 assists. Defensively, Tehresa Coles leads the MAAC with 55 steals.

HISTORY LESSON - MARIST VS. SIENA

This will be the 51st meeting all-time between the Red Foxes and Saints and first this season. The two teams will meet again in a couple of weeks on Feb. 10 in Loudonville.

Siena is the only MAAC team that owns an all-time winning record over Marist, going 28-22 versus the Red Foxes., although Head Coach Brian Giorgis is 17-5 in his career against the Saints, including a 60-45 victory in the 2011 MAAC Semifinals. Overall, Marist has won the past 17 meetings. Last year, Marist won 56-45 at Siena and 75-51 at McCann Arena in the Red Foxes' annual Pink Game.

Last Time Out

Emma O'Connor (Lynbrook, N.Y.) set a new career-high with 20 points and the Marist women's basketball team overcame a slow start to defeat Manhattan 60-39 win a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) game Friday evening at Draddy Gymnasium.

The game was broadcast nationally on ESPN3.

O'Connor also tied for the team lead with six rebounds, matching Elizabeth Beynnon (Burlington, Vt.) who finished with 16 points, including 6-7 from the free throw line.

Marist shot 52% (13-25) from the field in the second half and 36.4% for the game.

The Red Foxes had 18 assists on 20 made field goals overall.

The defense held Manhattan to 31.3% shooting from the field, including just 28% in the second half while forcing 25 turnovers for the third time this season.

NAILING THEIR FREE THROWS

After Marist's 96% effort from the free throw line on Jan. 20 at Niagara, the Red Foxes rank fifth in the country in free-throw percentage (.793).

Casey Dulin has started all but two games as she was not in the starting lineup versus Princeton due to back spasms and against Iona due to an excused absence from practice. Emma O'Connor did not start two games due to a wrist injury. Natalie Gomez started 10 consecutive games from Nov. 17 through Jan. 4. Kristina Danella has also made three starts, Kristine Best has made six and Sydney Coffey has made two starts.

Coffey made her first career start in just her third career game, becoming the fastest player to join the starting lineup in Giorgis' tenure.

RANKED AMONGST THE MID-MAJORS

After receiving one vote in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Preseason Poll, the Red Foxes moved up to as many as seven votes after the first weekend of games.

For the first few weeks of the season, Marist had been ranked in the top 10 of the CollegeInsider.com Mid Major poll, but have dropped to #13 in this week's poll. The Red Foxes have reached as high as sixth and are the only team from the MAAC in the Top-25. Also making the list is Princeton at #8, who Marist defeated 56-45 on Nov. 17 in Poughkeepsie when the Tigers were ranked 4th. Hartford and Boston University, who have both beaten the Red Foxes, are also ranked, sitting at #23 and #9, respectively. Marist also defeated Hofstra, who sits just outside the Top-25 and has been in and out of the rankings, on Nov. 28, 85-70.

MUCH DESERVED CONTRACT EXTENSION

On Wednesday, Dec. 5, Marist Director of Athletics Tim Murray that head women's basketball coach Brian Giorgis has signed a contract extension through the 2020-21 season.

Murray on contract: "Brian has established our program as a consistent Top-40 team in the country. I'm thrilled with the idea of him spending his entire collegiate coaching career here at Marist. He's a special coach, and a special person. And I am excited that he will provide the Hudson River Valley excellent women's college basketball for many years."

Giorgis on contract: "I can't thank Marist College enough for offering me this extension and having the faith in me to lead this program into the next decade. We may not be a BCS program, but the support by both the administration and community is comparable or better than any BCS program in the country. I am truly humbled and appreciative of what Marist College has done for me during my tenure here and I thank God every day for bringing me here to Marist to be a part of this special community. I am truly blessed."

THE BIG 5-0-0

With the first two wins of this season, 66-45 over Vermont and 56-45 over Princeton. the Marist women's basketball program now stands at 500 wins since becoming a Division I program in the 1981-1982 season

Of those 500 wins, 253 belong to Giorgis.

ALL TOO FAMILIAR

This season marks the third straight year, and eighth time in Head Coach Brian Giorgis' 11-year career, that the Red Foxes have started off with a 1-1 record.

Also for the second straight year, Marist finished non-conference play under .500 with a 5-6 record. Last year, the Red Foxes went on to win 20 of their next 21 to claim their seventh straight MAAC Championship.

FIVE NAMED PRESEASON ALL-MAAC

On Thursday, Nov. 1, the Red Foxes had a league-high five players named to the 2012 All-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC).

This is the sixth consecutive year the Red Foxes had three or more players selected to be on the Pre-Season All-MAAC teams.

Junior guard Leanne Ockenden (Syracuse, N.Y.) was named to the First Team and is now up for MAAC Preseason Player of the Year, which will be announced during Friday's Award Show. Senior forward Elizabeth Beynnon (Burlington, Vt.) was selected to the Second Team.

Giorgis on his three captains: "I am very happy that we have three members of our team that are capable of being quality leaders," Giorgis said. "Elizabeth, Casey and Leanne all started for us last year and were a big reason for our success. We will count on their veteran leadership this season both on and off the court to lead us in our challenging upcoming season."

MARIST SELECTED TO FINISH FIRST

For the sixth consecutive season, the Red Foxes were picked to finish first in the MAAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, announced Friday at the MAAC Preseason Awards Show which was held at McCann Arena and aired on ESPN3.

Marist was the unanimous choice, with all 10 of the first-place votes.

YET ANOTHER TOUGH SCHEDULE

The Red Foxes continue their recent trend of playing some of the nation's best competition in the non-conference portion of their schedule.

This season's slate featuring teams from five of the six power conferences and five of the 11 teams played in last year's NCAA Tournament while four others participated in the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT).

Included in the non-conference schedule are four teams that are ranked in the top 20 of the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Preseason Poll. Leading that group is the University of Connecticut (#2), followed by Kentucky (#7), Oklahoma ((#14) and Purdue (#18).